Profile: Sam Laryea
I first came to the University of Reading in February of 2006 as a visiting PhD student from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. The reason was to help me spend some time studying at the School of Construction Management and Engineering (SCME) in order to move my PhD forward.
After writing to the admissions office of the university about my interest in coming to Reading, I was excited when I received an email from Professor Will Hughes, who is the Head of the SCME, about the necessary arrangements. I was excited that Will himself, who later on became my PhD supervisor, took the time to write to me personally.
The government of Ghana funded the initial three months that I spent from February - June 2006. This is the time that my PhD actually started to come together. I started to feel like I had come into the exact kind of academic environment where I had always wanted to find myself, in order to realize my dreams. Also, it was really nice of Will and Professor Roger Flanagan to invite me, at separate times, to their homes for dinner with their family. This helped me to connect socially with two of the world's leading academics in construction management.It made me feel welcome, it gave me confidence, and I was inspired by the stories about their own careers and life.
I found our school to be a really nice place to study often because of the friendly nature of our people and smiles on everyone's face.It was also very easy to mix with members of staff and students of the school either through having lunch together, or socialising with other students from several countries. Perhaps this was made easier by my own personality and constant smiles. I should add that living in a very comfortable room in the SCR of Bridges Hall also helped my studies a lot.
Because of the significant progress I made with my PhD in this short time, I requested another opportunity to enable me continue the progress I had made on my first trip. My supervisor responded with great enthusiasm and this time around, April - August of 2007, I only needed to take care of subsistence because the bench fee was waived. I returned to Ghana and in January 2008, I transferred my PhD to Reading University to enable me study here full-time, enjoy the environment, and finish my PhD to the standard I had in mind. I was fortunate to receive full funding.
On 10th December 2008 I defended my PhD successfully, and so I am now Dr Samuel Laryea. My PhD is quite unique because it involved ethnomethodological studies where I had to work with national contractors in both Ghana and the UK to observe their tendering processes and how they put a bid together directly in order to be able to describe what actually happens in reality precisely.
I will always be grateful to God for helping me with all the abilities and opportunities I have always needed to succeed. And I will always be thankful to Will for the excellent opportunity and supervision, and indeed everyone in our school, for all the positive and excellent academic and social experiences.
I have truly transformed at this university, it's been an amazing time for me, and perhaps the last thing I should mention is the stir fry meal that I regularly enjoy for lunch at Cedars.
